4 R&B songs that brought urban slang to the mainstream

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Slang is a product of time and space. It's a coded, informal language made up of words and phrases often originating in the most creative subsets of any society: it's young. Quite often this vocabulary is known only by a particular group of people bound together by geography, culture and age. But sometimes that coded language can work its way into the mainstream (often losing it's cool status as soon as it gets there), and quite often the way it gets to the mainstream is through music.

This week we look back at four R&B songs that helped bring slang terms into the mainstream.

'Steelo'

This song was the debut single of the R&B girl group 702 and in 1996 it introduced the world to the word steelo. Steelo is slang for style; someone's aura. That someone is often the object of desire, a particular individual who just has the kind of charisma that stands out. It's connected to their fashion, but it's not limited to that. The word didn't gain huge traction but the song was popular enough to put 702 on the R&B map.

'Wifey'

The term wifey is distinct from wife. It refers to a woman in a relationship that may have the institution of marriage in its sights but is not there just yet. A wifey transcends the position of a girlfriend and is someone held in high esteem. The R&B group Next spelled out exactly what a wifey is in its song of the same name. It should be noted that in an era where women have made it a point to prioritize self-definition, neither the song nor the term have aged well.

'Bootlylicious'

This term refers to a woman with ample curves. It was a celebratory descriptor that flew in the face of a mainstream beauty ideal that still celebrated thin bodies. When Destiny's Child created their body-positive anthem of the same name, it became a global phenomenon with everyone from morning talk show hosts to aunties at barbecues declaring their desire to be bootylicious.

'Boo'

This term was around long before the Usher and Alicia Keys duet "My Boo," but their song brought it into the livingrooms of individuals who may have mistakenly spelled it "beau" upon first hearing it. "Boo" is a term of endearment used with a lover or partner. It's been more recently replaced with the term of the moment "bae."